Friday, 29 March 2013

Bangladesh Anti-Hindu Violence 2013

On 28 February 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal sentenced Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, the Vice President of the Jamaat-e-Islami to death for the war crimes committed during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. Following the sentence, activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir attacked the Hindus in different parts of the country. Hindu properties were looted, Hindu houses were burnt into ashes and Hindu temples were desecrated and set on fire.[2][3] While the government has held the Jamaat-e-Islami responsible for the attacks on the minorities, the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership has denied any involvement. The minority leaders have protested the attacks and appealed for justice. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh has directed the law enforcement to start suo moto investigation into the attacks. US Ambassador to Bangladesh express concern about attack of Jamaat on Bengali Hindu community.

Background

On 4 October 2011, the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh indicted Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, a Bangladeshi Islamist politician and the Vice President of Jamaat-e-Islami(famous for hatred for non-Muslims) on 20 counts of crimes against humanity.[6][7][8] He was accused of murder, loot, arson, rape and forcible conversion of Hindus to Islam during the Bangladesh Liberation War. On 28 February 2013, Sayeedi was convicted of 16 charges including loot, arson, murder and genocide. He was sentenced to death for two of the charges.[9]

Earlier in 2013, the International Crimes Tribunal had convicted Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, an Islamic televangelist and leader of Jamaat-e-Islami and sentenced him to death. After that the Tribunal had sentenced Kader Mollah to life imprisonment.[10] The people of Bangladesh rose in protest against the verdict and demanded death sentence of Kader Mollah.[11] They have staged protests in Shahbag square in Dhaka while the Jamaat-e-Islami activists have termed the verdicts politically motivated and called for general strikes and resorted to widespread violence.

Attacks

After the verdict, the Jamaat-e-Islami took to the streets in protest against the verdict. They attacked the establishment including the police, fire brigade, disrupted the traffic and set vehicles on fire. They attacked specially the Hindu minorities, destroyed their houses and businesses, vandalized their temples and set them on fire. According to community leaders, more than 50 Hindu temples and 1,500 Hindu homes were destroyed in 20 districts.

Chittagong Division

In Noakhali District several Hindu homes and temples came under the attack of the Islamists. On the morning of 28 February, the activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir began to gather near Rajganj Bazar in Begumganj Upazila.[18][19] At around 2 p.m., immediately after the verdict, the activists armed with sticks, started a procession in protest against the verdict. The procession vandalized the Kali temple at Rajganj Bazar and the temple near Bainnabari. Then they attacked the Hindus in nearby Tongipar and Aladinagar villages. They vandalized eight Hindu households and looted all the valuables including money and jewellery.[18] The temple of Bhuiyan house in Tongipar village was vandalized. Six people were injured in the attacks.[20] The violence continued in phases till the evening. Around 6-30 p.m. Rapid Action Battalion was deployed to bring the situation under control.[18] On 23 March, Islamic extremists vandalized and looted a temple at Companiganj Upazila On 26 March, miscreants set fire in a Hindu house at Zirtali union belonging to Begamganj Upazila.[21]

In Lakshmipur District, five Hindu-owned jewellery shops were looted and one Hindu temple attacked and looted in Chandraganj.[22] After the midnight of 28 February, one Hindu temple has been on fire in Gaiyarchar in Raipur Upazila.[22][23] The police prevented the rioters from setting fire to another temple.[23] Two Hindu monasteries were set on fire.[22] On 1 March, the miscreants set fire to a Hindu house in Char Sita area of Ramgati Upazila.[24]

On 28 February, in the afternoon Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir activists attacked the Hindus in Chittagong District.[25] In Banshkhali Upazila, the attackers set fire to Hindus houses in Dakshin Jaldi area of Jaldi Union. 20 houses were gutted. 16 Hindus were injured in the arson, two of the died.[18] A 65 year old Hindu was killed in the attacks.[26] On early morning of 5 March at around 2-30 a.m., the Sarbajaneen Magadeshwari Mandir at East Rupkania of Satkania Upazila was torched.[27][28] At around 3:30am the Khetrapal Temple was burned to ashes and money from donation box was looted.[29]

In Cox's Bazar, the Jamaat activists destroyed three Hindu temples. In Kutubdia Upazila, thousands of Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Chhatra Shibir activists gathered before the Upazila Parishad office around 9 p.m.[30] Around 10 p.m. they set fire to Hindu temples, after vandalizing government offices and an Awami League party office.[30]

Khulna Division

On the night of 28 February, miscreants vandalized a Hindu temple in Pingjour village under Chingrikhali Union in Morrelganj Upazila of Bagerhat District. The Dumuria Sharbajaneen temple under Ramachandrapur Union too was set on fire. Two Hindu houses, one belonging to a local Awami League leader, were set on fire in Banogram Union.[34] In Satkhira, Jamaat and Shibir activists attacked Hindu houses and business establishments. In Kadamtala, City College More and Abader Hat areas of Satkhira municipality more than hundred Hindu residences and business establishments were looted and destroyed. The District Magistrate of Satkhira District promulgated Section 144 in Satkhira and certain areas of Assasuni Upazila. On 5 March, Jamaat-Shibir and BNP acitivists set eight Hindu houses on fire in Khulna.[27] On 12 March around midnight, miscreants vandalised 23 idols of Shiva at a temple at the Angita cremation ground in Kaliganj Upazila of Jhenaidah District.[35][36]

On 18 March, more than 150 armed assailants attacked and valdalised the Pabla Sarbajanin Kalibari Temple in Khulna city’s Banikpara around 9:30pm. After blasting incendiaries, they ransacked the houses and shops of Hindus in the area.[37]

Shortly after the midnight of 2 March, around 30-40 miscreants shouting abuses and threatening the Hindus, attacked their homes in Uttar Maheshpur village in Raniganj area of Dinajpur Sadar Upazila of Dinajpur District. They set fire to the homes and haystacks of 12 Hindu peasant families, as they barely managed to escape with their lives. Around 1 a.m. two fire brigade units from Dinajpur arrived and doused the fire. By the time the homes were completely reduced to ashes.[39]

On 5 March,the Sree Sree Shoshan Kali Mandir at Rotherpar village in Aditmari upazila of Lalmonirhat District was vandalized.[28] On 7 March, fanatics set fire to an Hindu temple after destroying goddess Kali idol at Hatibandha upazila of Lalmonirhat. Sree Sree Kali Mandir at Bejgram village was also burnt down at night.[40]

Rajshahi Division

On March 7, an idol of the Hindu Goddess Kali was destroyed and a Hindu temple was set on fire at Hatibandha Upazila of Lalmonirhat. [48] Early in the morning on 3 March at around 3 a.m., unidentified miscreants set fire to the Sarbajanin Puja Sangha Mandir in the Natun Alidanga Bara Pekurtala locality of Shibganj municipality under Shibganj Upazila in Chapainawabganj District. A portion of the temple was gutted in the fire. After the incident, the local Hindus were living in fear.[49] On the night of 12 March, miscreants broke in to a Hari temple in Pakuria village under Singra Upazila of Natore District and destroyed the idol.[50] On 19 March, Islamic fanatics desecrated idols in four Hindu temples of Gabtali Upazila in Bogra District.[51]

On 18 March, seven idols in Harimandir in Netrokona Sadar upazila’s Bobahala have been desecrated by smashing them to pieces.[37] On the same day in Gazipur District, the attackers damaged six idols in a Hindu temple at Dakhkhin Marta of Sreepur.[58] On 22 March, unidentified miscreants set fire to a Lakshmi temple at Gazipur Sadar Upazila in Gazipur District.[59][60]

Reactions

Domestic

The leaders of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad held a human chain at the National Press Club in Dhaka and Chittagong on 2 March in protest of the atrocities on minorities in Bangladesh.[61] At the meeting, the Hindu leaders expressed deep concerns in the recent developments and stated that the Jamaat-e-Islami had once again engaged in extermination of the minorities from Bangladesh as it did in 1971.[62] On 3 March, the Bangladesh High Court directed the Government to ensure security of the Hindus in Noakhali District and repair the temples and houses of the Hindus destroyed in the attacks. It also issued suo moto notice to the Noakhali District police, the district administration and the Inspector General of Police to take action against the persons involved in the attacks.[63][64]

Khaleda Zia,the chairperson of opposition party BNP, also expressed her concern about communal attack on Hindus.[65]

On 6 March, Hindus across the country protested against the violence.[66][67]

Foreign

In India, activists of Gairik Bharat burned an effigy of Sheikh Hasina in Silchar, in protest against her failure to protect the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh.[68] The Bharatiya Janata Party,West Bengal unit demands the central government to create pressure on Bangladesh government to protect the Hindus from Islamic extremism.[69] In Rajya Sabha, the upper house of Indian parliament, main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that an all-party delegation be sent to Bangladesh to assess the “atrocities on Hindus” by Jamaat-e-Islami.[70] Hindu Samhati members organised a Protest Rally at Bangaon,in the state of West Bengal,India.[71] On the other hand, Muslim radicals of West Bengal stand for Delwar Hossain Sayeedi and Jamaat-e-Islami with conviction.[72] Expressing serious concern on the continued attacks on the Hindus in Bangladesh the South Assam Bengali Hindu Association demanded the intervention of the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in stopping the atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh.[73]

The British High Commissioner in Dhaka, Mr. Robert Gibson expressed his deep concern and resentment upon the attack upon the religious places and the recent attacks in a press conference on Sunday 3 March held in Dhaka.[74][75]

On 4 March, the United States Department of State expressed concerns over the attacks on Hindu temples and homes in Bangladesh.[76] Dan Mozena US Ambassador to Bangladesh express concern about attack of Jamaat on Bengali Hindu community.[4][5]

The Amnesty International has called upon the Bangladesh government for giving better protection to the minority Hindus in the country. In a March 6 report, titled ‘Bangladesh: Wave of Violent Attacks Against Hindu Minority’, the Amnesty said as many as 40 Hindu temples were vandalized in attacks by supporters of an Islamic party. Several hundred were rendered homeless as shops and houses belonging to the Hindu community were burnt down over the past week, it said. The report gave Bangladesh's war crimes trial as the context to the violence against the Hindus.[77][78]

At the House of Lords in the British Parliament, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi condemned the attacks on minorities and their places of worship in Bangladesh. She stated that 24 places of worship, 112 homes and about a dozen business establishment belonging to the minority Hindus came under attack. According to Lord Avebury, the recent attacks are recurrence of the 2001 attack on the Hindus.[79]

Although, there was local reporting of the anti-hindu atrocities, there was little to no exposure from international media, but images from the attacks continued to be spread on social media. [80]